Saturday, June 11, 2016

A few weeks ago I came across this new brand of skincare called SÖND on twitter.

I was really intrigued because as you know I’m all about finding skincare that’s filled with goodness, and aims to add to your skincare routine as well as helping to eliminate the not so great aspects of having sensitive skin, like I have. They are a new anti-ageing skincare system aimed at people with sensitive skin. So it was right up my alley, since I’ve turned 30 this past year I’ve really been aiming to step up my anti-ageing game. Sure, I’m still getting ID’d (Thanks, ASDA!!) but you never can start too early, and prevention is better than cure, and all those good sayings.

So! I was thrilled when they allowed me to test out their range of products.

I was open to it because I was curious as to what their products could do. As I had never really heard of ‘silica’ in skincare products before, or if I had I hadn’t paid much attention to it. At first I thought, is it like ‘silicone?’ to which thankfully I corrected myself and found their ingredients are nothing at ALL like silicone.

In fact it’s added using quartz silica, and is an incredible natural mineral that’s known to have a number of health benefits. Since we produce silica naturally in our bodies to help produce much needed collagen and to act as a natural anti-inflammatory, the addition of this in these items makes it extra enticing because it’s adding more of what we naturally produce in a way that helps maintain a healthy balance and youthful glow. And really, who doesn't want some of that?!

Silicon dioxide, also known as silica (from the Latin silex), is a chemical compound that is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula SiO2. It has been known since ancient times. Silica is most commonly found in nature as quartz, as well as in various living organisms.

For the past three weeks (including during my best friend’s wedding) I’ve been using the products sent to me, which were:

• Hydrating Face SprayFirst up their Hydrating Face Spray; I have to admit, a face spray is never something I think of buying for myself. I have no idea why? But after this my mind is open to trying more, because this one was fantastic – particularly in this hot weather we’ve been having (for non-Irish people, the tone of surprise is always there because we rarely see actual summer-esq weather in summer!). It’s been a blessing on the hotter days allowing me to cool off and keep my makeup (minimal as it has been lately) in place, while still giving my dehydrated skin the little boost it needs. This also works well as a toner, after cleansing in the morning, a little spritz before going on to using the face serum really adds to the feeling that you’re feeding your skin something good, like a plant in need of watering, keeping things hydrated and ultimately leaving you feeling fresh.

• Revitalising Face Serum

The Sönd Revitalising Face Serum was something that I’ve used twice a day without fail since I received it. It’s fantastic – I notice when I put it on that my redness dies down, that it leaves my skin feeling soft and smooth without feeling too oily, and it works as a fabulous base under make-up.

It’s light weight formula (smelling faintly of mint which is lovely) goes on smooth and sinks in to the skin in seconds, leaving behind a prepped base perfect for leaving bare or adding your daily make-up on top without having to worry about it becoming patchy. I wore this under my make-up for my friend’s wedding (a risk with a new product I know, but I was confident) and even under the thick, high coverage, ‘photo ready’ make-up that I wore for 12 + hours, nothing budged. And on my skin, being dry and such, using such a full coverage make-up will usually end up in a flaky, patchy mess by the end of the night. By the time I was taking off my make-up – everything was still perfectly in place and I believe that this had something to do with it. As I’m a person that uses CC or BB creams, or light weight foundations – heavy coverage on dry skin is usually a disaster, but with this added ingredient, I really feel it helped in keeping things fresh! • Replenishing Face Oil

The Replenishing Face Oil I used only at night, even though it says that it’s possible and suitable to use it both day and night. I felt this benefited me most at night as I was able to really cleanse my skin, and add this on liberally without fear of having to wait for it to sink in, so I could really enjoy the process of having something so nice on my skin all through the night. It too has a faint scent of something minty fresh, which I love, as it adds to the freshness feeling it gives when applied. It didn’t break me out at all, if anything it really helped to heal the tiny dry patches I had left over from previous breakouts. Ps. I even used this on my mother once or twice and she adored it, and even promised to buy herself some she loved the feeling of it on her skin so much, so points for that, as she is the most anti-skincare-person in the world, possibly!

• Energising Mineral Supplements

These are something I’m excited to try, as I haven’t started them yet! Even though it’s totally safe to take with other medications, I’ve been waiting until I’ve finished a current course of tablets I’ve been required to take for other health concerns, before I can give these a go fairly without interference. So as soon as I’ve been on these a few weeks I’ll be sure to add my thoughts to this post and on all my social media. Because as far as I can tell they really go above and beyond in helping with the increase of energy as well as inwardly helping your skin care journey!

So keep an eye out for this if you follow me on Twitter/Instagram/Pinterest etc!

Other details of interest Sönd products are:

Cruelty free

Suitable for Vegans

Gluten free

Overall Verdict: I really loved these products, and they did change my skin rapidly – I noticed almost right away a difference in the redness of my skin, and the softness. I noticed my skin was smoother, and clear in a way it hasn’t been for ages. Major plus = NO BREAKOUTS and in fact the oil and serum I really felt helped aid the healing of the smaller scars and the dry patches I had from left over breakouts. Overall 10/10. I’d say if like me, you do suffer from being super sensitive to products and need that extra boost of hydration in a light-weight formula, definitely consider giving this a go.

Their starter sets start from as little as £25 with free shipping from their site, totally reasonable if you want to test before committing to a bigger price / bigger product size, and if not for yourself then why not consider them for gifts. I know I am: D